Cycling

King shines in Florida State's Seminole Classic

Feb 27, 2013

Although the sun did not shine much in Tallahassee the Cycling Tornado looked to be in their element as they went on to build on their success of the previous week.

ROAD RACE

King had contenders in every race on Saturday during the road race. Julian Cabra, Greenville SC, placed 6th in the highly competitive men's A division with Alex Jensen, Tampa FL, and TJ Killelea, Red Bank TN, rounding out top 15 places finishing 12th and 14th respectively. After losing his teammate to a broken spoke Zach Maness, Rye Cove VA, managed to hold off larger teams to place 6th in the men's B division while Paul Galewski, Dyersburg TN, and Reid Yoder, Hoagland IN, worked together in a very large men's C field to place 6th and 14th. The women continue to lead from the front with Kate Ross, Hayward WI, taking 2nd followed closely behind by Stephanie Cucaz, Lawrenceville GA, 8th and Megan Rogers, Soddy Daisy TN, 12th all racing in the women's A division. While Jamie Grigsby, Oak Ridge TN got her 1st top ten finish of the season placing 6th in the women's B division.

TIME TRIAL

The women continue to dominate the team time trial event beating out close rival University of Florida by 7 seconds for the 1st place crown for the second week in a row. The weather was awful with torrential rain and heavy surface flooding but they managed to hold it together and continue their good form. Derek Hurst, White Pine TN, made the necessary adjustments to his bike after breaking a spoke in the men's B road race to compete in the individual time trial. Again, the weather was not on his side but he scored a time of 18.08 in the 7 mile out and back course to rank 2nd overall in the TT.

CRITERIUM

Sunday brought a glimpse of sun and a dry course for a day of very fast racing. The C men began the day and Paul Galewski made the most of his opportunities to place 5th out of a field of 58. He is making great progress this being only his second collegiate race weekend. The B men of Zach Maness and Derek Hurst managed to work together for 6th and 10th place after 40 minutes of hard racing while Julian Cabra continued his strong form for the A men getting in a breakaway and racing across the line for a hard won 6th place finish with TJ Killelea placing 13th and Blake Adams, Pigeon Forge TN, breaking the top 15 with a 14th place finish as he adjusts to racing in this category.

After several 2nd place finishes, Kate Ross breaks the tape for 1st place for the A women. She rode a sound and very strategic race supported by her 3 teammates for the win. And Keely Easterling, Bristol TN, is making the transition from soccer to cycling seem easy as she cruised to a 4th place finish in the women's B division in only the second criterium of her young career.

Coach Kreiss is very pleased with the results of the past 2 weeks but also encouraged by the way the team is working together to make the most of opportunities. King is off this week due to a cancellation of the race at Cumberland University but will hit the streets again on March 9th in Atlanta racing at Georgia Tech.